Kotaku has a follow-up to Stardock's recent lawsuit against Alexandra Miseta over what the company alleges was its former marketing manager's role in the shortcomings of Elemental: War of Magic. They have court documents showing that before being sued herself, Miseta had already brought her own lawsuit against Stardock CEO Brad Wardell for sexual harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination, and that Stardock's lawsuit came three weeks after a judge denied their request to dismiss her case. In addition to details from the sexual harassment case, they offer accounts from an anonymous alleged former Stardock employee refuting the idea that Miseta was responsible for Elemental's failure. They say Wardell has not yet responded to their request for comment on this.

jacobvandy wrote on Sep 6, 2012, 14:41:I love how that most of the time Kotaku is the source for a story, everyone derides them for being sensationalist shitbags with zero journalistic integrity. But when they're slinging mud at an individual or company you guys don't particularly care for, suddenly everything they say is taken at face value? It sounds like supermarket tabloid crapola to me. EVERYTHING in a pending civil suit is alleged, not fact, so Wardell's stated explanation defending himself is just as valid.

Why are those things mutually exclusive? Kotaku can be a bunch of sensationalistic shitbags with zero integrity and this story can still be true. Maybe she sabotaged Elemental and maybe Brad Wardell did sexually harass her. Kotaku isn't the only site covering this and there are court submissions to read.

Creston wrote on Sep 6, 2012, 14:24:nice...One thing I do agree with, however, is that since he owns the company, he can pretty much do whatever he wants to in it (within legal boundaries, of course.) It is NOT against the law to make vulgar jokes that make people uncomfortable, despite all the efforts of the US to apparently make it so.

I don't know what hole you're living in, but where I'm from it absolutely IS illegal, regardless of whether your company is publicly traded or not. It's a violation of human rights law, not employment law.

Further, if it -were- legal to do what he did, then the judge would not have refused to toss the case when Wardell tried to get them to do so. Frankly, I think you're operating on an ancient and idiotic supposition that will get you sued one day, and rightfully so.

Tumbler wrote on Sep 6, 2012, 14:40:A company that size should have maybe tried one new IP or possibly focus'd on improving existing IP like Sins or Galactic Civ 2. Instead they jumped head on into Elemental and Demigod (I believe) and possibly others we never heard about with no concern for how those products would sell. Maybe there was more work being done on demigod and they canned that team or perhaps they just got rid of the elemental team and put the remaining funds into Sins Rebellion? The sale of impulse must have freed up some funds and maybe that is why we're seeing elemental and Sins Rebellion now.

Stardock didn't fund either Demigod or Sins. They just published them.

Creston

That's right... Gas Powered Games did Demigod. I remember them giving Stardock shit for the piss-poor launch and the crappy server performance.

jacobvandy wrote on Sep 6, 2012, 14:41:I love how that 9/10 times Kotaku is the source for a story here, everyone derides them for being sensationalist shitbags with zero journalistic integrity. But when they're slinging mud at an individual or company you guys don't particularly care for, suddenly everything they say is taken at face value? It sounds like supermarket tabloid crapola to me. EVERYTHING in a pending civil suit is alleged, not fact, so Wardell's stated explanation defending himself is just as valid.

Well, they've gone through discovery, so a lot of the things Kotaku posted were evidence as opposed to accusations.

And even taking Wardell at face value, he does not actually deny anything mentioned in discovery. In fact, he confirms the email reply he made to her, which in itself constitutes sexual harassment. He admits it freely and says "if you don't like it tits or GTFO".

He just says that it was inappropriate instead of harassment. But really, saying "I'm sexist, like it or find a new job" (which he effing admits to) is harassment, at least in California (dunno about Texas).

And if you believe his allegations about what she did, he runs an almost criminally negligent business with no redundancy and no backups of anything.

So either you believe her, or you believe him, he's still a douchebag.

Tumbler wrote on Sep 6, 2012, 14:40:A company that size should have maybe tried one new IP or possibly focus'd on improving existing IP like Sins or Galactic Civ 2. Instead they jumped head on into Elemental and Demigod (I believe) and possibly others we never heard about with no concern for how those products would sell. Maybe there was more work being done on demigod and they canned that team or perhaps they just got rid of the elemental team and put the remaining funds into Sins Rebellion? The sale of impulse must have freed up some funds and maybe that is why we're seeing elemental and Sins Rebellion now.

Stardock didn't fund either Demigod or Sins. They just published them.

I love how that most of the time Kotaku is the source for a story, everyone derides them for being sensationalist shitbags with zero journalistic integrity. But when they're slinging mud at an individual or company you guys don't particularly care for, suddenly everything they say is taken at face value? It sounds like supermarket tabloid crapola to me. EVERYTHING in a pending civil suit is alleged, not fact, so Wardell's stated explanation defending himself is just as valid.

Only just!? Did you not see or read anything about Elemental several years back?

Stardock looked to be an up and coming studio and then elemental happened. I'm sure the problems in the company started showing a year or two before that while that game was in development but from what I remember immediately following elementals release they had to cut down their teams immensely because all the money they'd spend on elemental was looking like a total loss.

Seemed to be a story of poor leadership, extending themselves too far too fast. A company that size should have maybe tried one new IP or possibly focus'd on improving existing IP like Sins or Galactic Civ 2. Instead they jumped head on into Elemental and Demigod (I believe) and possibly others we never heard about with no concern for how those products would sell. Maybe there was more work being done on demigod and they canned that team or perhaps they just got rid of the elemental team and put the remaining funds into Sins Rebellion? The sale of impulse must have freed up some funds and maybe that is why we're seeing elemental and Sins Rebellion now.

Who knows. This is all wild speculation but that company looked like they were going to knock things out of the park and they just imploded. Again, I'm just interpreting things I remember and I have no idea what was really going on in the company.

Edit: It's a lot of "he said, she said", so we'll never know the truth. It certainly looks as if Brad is being a giant asshole and is just suing to retaliate, but on the other hand, she may have very well been pissed off enough to do something stupid like this. Again, we'll never really know the truth.

One thing I do agree with, however, is that since he owns the company, he can pretty much do whatever he wants to in it (within legal boundaries, of course.) It is NOT against the law to make vulgar jokes that make people uncomfortable, despite all the efforts of the US to apparently make it so. While doing so at a company where you both report to others will get someone fired, if it's the owner of the company and that company is not publicly traded, he CAN actually just be a giant fucking asshole to whomever he wants. And if you don't like it, you can find yourself another job.

He could have been a bit less blunt about it, but that is simply the truth. If the guy who owns the place you work is an asshole, you either suck it up, or you find yourself another job.

Other than that, eh, I don't really have an opinion one way or the other, except to say that his statement that there is a "HUGE difference between a great game and total disaster" is true, but said difference has NOTHING to do with whether you lost your marketing materials or not. Your game sucked ass. Stop trying to blame other people for that.

After reading the Kotaku article I can only say, holy shit it looks like Brad is the worst of douches and all evidence points against him and not against Miseta. He sounds like a fucking nerd on a hell of a powertrip.

Holy hell, if the stuff in that Kotaku article is accurate then Wardell is truly an ass of epic proportions. I didn't have any sympathy for the woman before when it was reported she sabotaged the company, I do now:

"E-mail messages included in the records go back as far as March, 2008, and include a link to a sexually explicit YouTube video, a comment that Miseta was chosen to go to a conference "not just because you're 'hot'," and a 100-question "purity test" that he asked her to take and then send him her score from. The purity test includes questions like, "Have you engaged in group sex?," "Have you engaged in intercourse with an unconscious person, while conscious?," and, "Have you had anal intercourse?""

Well, this has taken a turn for the worse for Stardock and Brad, and I would put Brad as someone capable of doing that kind of shit. If he did, however, only he and Alexandra know and if it proves he did my opinion of Stardock will plummet as well.